


Drowning Lessons

by inujuju



Series: HSWC 2014 Fills [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternia, Budding Love, Drowning, F/M, Language Barrier, Sea Dweller Karkat, Self-Hatred, Troll Gills, swimming lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-07 00:06:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1877586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inujuju/pseuds/inujuju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remember that time when Feferi taught Karkat to swim?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drowning Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> I love Crabdad and I need to write actual Feferi♥Karkat one day.

Karkat was barely four sweeps old when the old crab took him to the ocean for the first time. He was dressed in a thick black sweater and tight black pants, the exact opposite of “beach ware” that all the highbloods like to flaunt their bodies in.

The ancient lusus towered over his young charge as they approached the ocean. A saner lusus would have stuck to the pathetic sludge of water their neighbours claimed to be a lake but Crabdad was nothing if not insane. Their home had to be build inland to protect his wiggler from the horrors of seadwellers but he refused to stay landlocked forever.

After all, crabs belonged in the ocean.

Slowly, the ancient lusus left his charge and entered the water. His eyes were locked on the shivering body of a wiggler far too young to be so far from home as he moved. Crabdad clicked for him softly, calling Karkat to him as he entered the ocean.

Slowly, hesitantly, the young troll followed his guardian. He stopped at the water but the slowly growing tide wrapped around his ankles softly and called him to go deeper. Crabdad supported him as he entered, keeping his head above the water.

Once they were at a resemble depth, Karkat having to hold onto Crabdad least he sink, the lusus slowly removed his shirt. Karkat struggled at first but his guardian screamed at him and waked his head ruthlessly until he gave up. Karkat despised being without a shirt but was relieved that the waterlogged cloth no longer clung to him

His lusus swiftly pushed him under the waves.

Used to the action, Karkat screwed his eyes shut, bit his lips closed, and held his nose. He waited and waited and waited as each second became more agonizing than the last.

Finally, when he felt like he would burst with need, his gills flared open.

Water rushed into them and his book gills snatched the precious oxygen from the liquid before forcing it back out. The soft material inside his chest tingled from the strange sensation of salt but the burning he had worried about was absent.

Keeping his nose plugged to prevent the habit of breathing with lungs, Karkat let his lusus sit down under with him. He clung to the crab as he breathed, getting his first taste of seawater.

Sometime during their rest, Karkat had fallen asleep. His body kept the water coming and his lungs closed. Crabdad chirred softly, light echoes bouncing around them but short enough that they didn’t extend from their bubble of safety.

A bubble that hid the darkening clouds in the sky and the howling wind of storm. Crabdad, so separated from the ocean, missed all other signs of the tidal wave that approached. Suddenly the water rushed around them before dragging them out to sea. 

Crabdad’s lose grip on his charge was lost as their bodies tumbled and Karkat awoke with a jar. His light body was devoured by the wave’s power and the tide sucked him out much farther than his lusus. Out of reflex he went to cry out but his lungs opened and water surged down them. The salt burned his throat and lit his lungs on fire. His gills flared, trying to snatch oxygen but his body panicked as his lungs filled with water.

Over and over again he tried to breath, tried to cry out for his lusus, but the water took him deeper and chocked him further. The ocean froze his body and dulled his eyes. His mouth hung open as his body slowly shut down and his lungs ceased functioning.

~

Feferi swam slowly along the ocean floor. She wasn’t strong enough to break through the current above her but such an idea never crossed her thinkpan. Her lusus had always had her stay on the ocean floor, hunting small fish for food. One day she would be strong enough to break through the current, to rise above the darkness to the land of light and life.

Once she was strong enough, then her long life would go towards feeding her lusus and the path of becoming empress.

As she swam an odd shape came into view. It was about the same size of her, only covered in sand. Some small, curious fish swam around it, but most things stayed far away. Slowly, cautiously, she swam up to it, noticing more details as she got closer.

The water brushed the sand away, revealing grey skin.

Shocked, Feferi rushed forward, her bloodpusher beating frantically at the thought of who it might be. But when she reached the troll she realized the body was far too small to be Eridan. Also unlike Eridan, the troll’s horns weren’t sharp and they were actually breathing through their gills while Eridan always kept his shut like a silly clownfish.

Feferi shook their shoulder, taking in the lack of fins. How did a seatroll live without their fins? The trolls slowly awoke but gripped their throat quickly, as if they didn’t realize they were already breathing. Shocked eyes of grey cracked open as the troll patted their chest, as if expecting their gills not to function. Instead they flared bigger, rushing more oxygen in and allowing Feferi to catch the inner glimpse of a most peculiar red.

It was beautiful.

Without warning the troll lashed out at her and she found herself being kicked in the chin as the strange trolled rushed away. The lack of fins didn’t mask the odd movement they made, as if they didn’t know how to swim. Their body was sluggish and slow, unused to the water’s viscosity and eventually they just bared their teeth and rumbled at Feferi.

Recovering from shock the young seatroll couldn’t help but giggle. She purred towards the stranger, trying to show she wasn’t dangerous but the other wouldn’t cease, their eyes burning and a soft red drifting from their eyes.

With a shock Feferi realized the other was crying.

“What’s wrong?” She asked slowly, letting the ocean carry her message softly. The troll didn’t let their guard down but clicked out something in return, their teeth clacking together. It wasn’t like any other seatroll she had seen talk before, but her ancient lusus had decided to teach the eager wiggler a little bit of everything she knew.

“Go…way…” The language was a little broken but Feferi could understand the message.

“Are you lost?” She asked. The troll shook their head rapidly but the building red answered Feferi’s question. “Where’s you lusus?” The troll opened their eyes, glaring, and opened their mouth to yell butt stopped.

Their tears flowed in front of them and painted their vision red. Clutching their eyes shut, the troll kicked sand up at Feferi, momentarily blinding her vision. Brushing the sand away quickly she rushed after the other troll, grabbing their flailing arm.

The troll kicked out at her before trying to bite her. She dodged the first attempt but braced herself for the second, letting the small but sharp teeth pierce into her flesh. Slowly fuchsia pooled out, causing the other troll’s eyes to widen and pull away. Feferi gripped their head however and held them in place.

“It’s okay.” She hummed out, the water vibrating with warmth. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I promise.” Slowly the eccentric expanding of their chest ceased. She let go slowly and the other troll jerked away but didn’t try running anymore.

“I’m Feferi.” She said with a closed lip grin, in case her teeth frightened them. “Fuchsia, so female of course. You?”

The other troll, kept their eye locked on the dark sand before slowly answering. “Karkat… male…” Feferi thought that she had miss heard at first, but no, the series of clicks were only two words. She prevented a frown from forming on her face.

“No blood colour?” The troll shook his head.

“None.” He replied.

Had her lusus been there Feferi would have been lectured for letting such an important matter drop, even more so because of the almost defiant way this nobody troll was acting towards a potential heiress.

Remembering the presence of gills but the lack of fins and the almost crystal-like red blood, Feferi wondered if this troll really was nobody. A troll she had never known could exist; an oddity, a mutant.

A friend?

“Well Karkat,” Feferi began with a chipper smile. “Water you doing so far from home?” The troll glared at her. A fast series of clicks showered her ears, causing her to wave hurriedly. “Um… sorry but… slower please?” She asked, embarrassed. The troll rolled his eyes but a faint smile crossed his lips.

“Sorry.” He spoke, using the same long wave tone she did. His mouth opened wide, over exaggerating the sounds like a wiggler. “Wave dragged me out. Fucking lusus was useless.” Feferi nodded, remembering the large waves that had been forming lately. “Which way is shore?” Feferi giggled lightly.

“Which shore?” Karkat glared, curling in a little. “Don’t worry! I won’t tell, promise.”

“Swear it.” He demanded. Once again Feferi was shocked at the disrespect, so used to Eridan’s cooing and her lusus spoiling. 

It was so refreshing!

“I fucking promise Karkrab.” Feferi answered with a giggle, the profanity coming off far easier than she had expected. Karkat rolled his eyes but seemed to accept it as he answered.

“Lower… Near the Purple Coast.” Feferi nodded, intrigued. For a seatroll to be from Lower was beyond odd. Only the low bloods and the purple lived there. Everyone else lived on Middle. Of course Karkat was pretty odd already! Lower was much closer than Middle anyways, so it worked out for the better.

“It’s that way!” She pointed. Karkat began walking in that direction, keeping his eyes on her. His feet moved sluggishly and slow. “You’re going to walk?” She asked, swimming up to him. He glared at her, his chest expanding as if threatened.

“Shut up.” He clicked at her, switching back to the faster tongue. Feferi frowned as she swam ahead a bit.

“It’s going to take a long time if you walk though.” A series of clicks caused her face to scrunch and Karkat to face palm.

“I can’t…” He said slowly, obviously fighting a blush down. Feferi perked up.

“You can’t… swim?” He growled at her but the ocean swallowed the land sound. Feferi giggled. “Oh Karkrab you should have told me sooner!” She exclaimed, swimming up close and grabbing his arms. He flinched but didn’t lash out. “I’ll teach you! Then we can swim together!” She exclaimed. Karkat vibrated the water in anger.

“That’ll take too long now let go!” He seethed at her. Feferi frowned.

“But Karkrab if you walk it’ll take-“

“NO! Just shut up! Shut up and let go! Shut up and-“ His long notes cut short into clicks and his body shook and red pooled around his eyes again. Feferi’s eyes widened at the one word that she could always pick out in loudest of storms.

Lusus.

The click sounded over and over again as Karkat skreed at her, his voice pitching high. Without thought Feferi wrapped Karkat up in her arms, her horn tapping his lightly from the close contact. The hug was warm and Feferi refused to let go.

~

Karkat didn’t know what to do, one minute he was screaming at a future empress, the next said empress was hugging him instead of gutting him. Her cold body cooled his anger and froze his fear. His gills expanded and breathed slowly as he calmed down. It still simmered underneath his skin but it was only the forever present fire that was his blood.

He wasn’t calmed like he had seen in movies when trolls embraced, nothing but jelly in each other’s arms. But he had calmed down…

Strange.

“Sorry…” He mumbled, switching to the odd long notes of highbloods. For once he was thankful that Crabdad had dragged him away from his sickles to be schoolfed. If he couldn’t communicate with Feferi he probably would have culled himself in fear.

And like the oddity she was, Feferi let go and smiled. She didn’t kill him for lashing out, or biting her, or even for his blood colour. It was odd… Karkat couldn’t count the amount of times Crabdad had to crush a troll’s head between his pincers and those were all rust bloods. Why the highest of the high would let his blood go like it was nothing baffled the shit out of him.

The thought of his lusus, so far and useless caused a most hated emotion to swell up inside Karkat.

“How about I show you how to swim as we head there?” Feferi asked, breaking through his thoughts. “That way we can get there faster.” Her voice was filled with genuine concern and Karkat had to take a moment to realize that someone was actually… worried. About him. A highblood was… A fuchsia was… _Feferi_ was… worried about him…

He nodded slowly. She smiled.

Position herself in the direction they were to go, Feferi held Karkat’s hands in her own and instructed him slowly, pulling him in the direction home.

Karkat gradually began kicking under her instruction, letting the water hold him rather than trying to hold himself. “You can trust the water Karkat. It won’t drop you.” Trust… That was something Karkat had very little of. Only Crabdad ever had it, everything else on this planet trying to kill him.

The more they moved though, the lighter he felt. It was so strange, to just… unwind, to let go. To trust something that didn’t really exist, bore no soul, and had dragged him out in the first place.

But it also felt right. It felt natural and Karkat remembered how Crabdad had dragged him out to the ocean with the intent to show him something. Here in the water, in the safe darkness and comforting pressure, Karkat felt more at home than the stuffy air of his hive.

Briefly Karkat wished he had been born purple, that way he could live on the coast without fear and enjoy the embrace of the ocean whenever he wished too. 

“Alright Karkrab, I’m going to let go now.” Feferi beamed. Karkat was mid-cuss when she did and he soon found himself flailing, breaking any deep thoughts his mind decided to explore and getting right back to the most obvious fact.

He still couldn’t swim.

Karkat skreed in pure annoyance as Feferi laughed, reaching out for his arms to help right him again. 

“Now listen this time Karkat, otherwise you won’t be able to break the current.”

“Current?” Feferi hesitated and giggled out a ‘Nothing’. Karkat tried to lock eyes with her but she avoided them and he decided that, for once, he’d let the matter drop.

For now.

~

“Alright now kick out your feet slowly, let the water glide past them and push you forward. Good, good!” Feferi beamed at Karkat, amazed at how fast his body moved when he actually let himself go. If he could just unwind for a moment, Feferi felt he could be unstoppable. Nothing would be stronger than this strange troll.

A small blush rose to her face but Feferi stomped it down.

It wasn’t like watching a bare chested troll with lean muscle, beautiful gills and determined eyes was breaking her concentration, oh no, definitely not.

But with each step she took, Karkat gained on her, his legs built just as much for water as land. Even his arms, so smooth yet muscular, reminded her of the strong fishbeasts. But there was still that level of land in him, the way his body pushed the water away rather than gliding around it, the way his presence filled up the void rather than blending in with it.

A strange mix of land and sea, that’s what Karkat was.

“Feferi?” She snapped out of her pondering, embarrassed that she had let her mind wander as well. By the small smirk on Karkat’s face he had noticed but he kindly kept it to himself. “You can let go now.” Feferi hesitated.

“You sure?” He nodded.

And like that he slipped from her fingers and brushed by her, his body elegance personified. Her bloodpusher pumped a little fast at the idea of seeing him in action, of seeing his lithe body slip past enemy defenses and sliding blades into their flesh.

Feferi blushed and quickly swam past him in a rush, as if trying to escape her thoughts.

“Come on Karkrab! Let’s race!” She called out, only glancing back before swimming off.

~

Karkat cursed as Feferi rushed off, flailing pathetically before correcting his strokes. He remembered how Feferi described the sensation of swimming, embracing the water and giving himself to it, giving himself to her.

Karkat stopped long enough to slam his head on a stillfish for the stupid thought before chasing after her.

She was far ahead and he pushed himself to catch up but his inexperience was obvious in how he had to keep righting himself and forcing air through his gills least his lungs burn with the water that dwelled inside them.

Feferi glance back however and Karkat, despite his scowl, was thankful when she slowed down.

The two of them swam side by side, a strange feeling wrapping around them as they moved. Neither spoke but Karkat kept catching Feferi’s eyes before looking away embarrased. Her long locks and bright eyes were breathtaking and if the ocean hadn’t already swallowed his breath, Karkat figured she probably would.

He growled at himself, glad the water denied his land noises. He had to get his thoughts out of such stupid waters. This wasn’t a romcom, he wasn’t going to woo a potential empress! Feferi may be odd but no way was she _that_ odd.

 _Besides,_ a small part of his spoke, _you’d only do that to protect yourself._

Karkat hissed at the voice, tempted to skree at it in pure rage but Crabdad wasn’t nearby to calm him, to scoop him out of the dark waters that his hatred was and shake such clutching thoughts from his thinkpan.

Karkat found that he didn’t like the ocean as much anymore… He just wanted to be home on dry land and clear facts. He wanted to return to the world where everyone hated him and he only trusted his lusus, the one thing guaranteed to never betray him.

 _But even that…_ his mind whispered, _Isn’t guaranteed, is it freak?_

“Karkat?” The troll snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Feferi. She wore a small frown and reached out for him. Karkat flinched, his cursed mind dragging up unwanted thoughts. Feferi hesitated and Karkat thought she would pull away just like everyone else. But instead she pressed on and slowly cupped his cheek, brushing away the red tears that he hadn’t noticed.

“It’s okay, I’ll get you back home soon. I swear on my blood.” Her voice was harsh yet protective, quiet yet strong, cold yet kind.

A strange mix of strength and kindness, that’s what Feferi was.

Karkat found himself nodding. Feferi smiled in return.

~

Feferi was young but she was no fool. Karkat’s subtle reactions, his fear of her and her blood, his presence on Lower and his distant cries for his lusus lead her to one conclusion.

Things needed to change.

Eridan never flinched like that and Gamzee never spaced out as tears gathered on his face. Both were never scared. Maybe angry at times or worried but never scared. As she swam beside Karkat, seeing his grace, his strength, Feferi resolved herself.

“This is the last stretch.” She commented. “Just past this current and we’ll be on land.” Karkat looked at her, relief tinged with fear painting his eyes. Reaching out, grabbing his warm hand in her own, Feferi smiled as determination sparked inside Karkat’s eyes.

“Let’s do this.” He said, gripping her hand back. They shared a smile and then nodded.

Karkat pulled them through the water and to land, to home.

And Feferi… She finally broke through the current and her safety.

~

Not long after breaking surface, Karkat felt his lungs burn in agony as water raced out. Feferi had patted his back, her hand still gripping his own as his lungs recovered from the earlier ordeal. Once reassured of his wellbeing, Feferi said her farewell, her voice coming out like silk in the air, as she whispered something in Karkat’s ear.

As Karkat lay on the beach breathing oxygen through his lungs, he played with his fingers. The hand that Feferi had gripped was still cool and he remembered how it had slipped so perfectly between his own fingers. It wasn’t large and comforting or small and dear but rather it was the same size and strength.

His bloodpusher fluttered a little but the relieved cries of his lusus as he scooped Karkat into his pincers brushed all thoughts away.

All but one,

 _cuttlefishCuller_.


End file.
